


they say people come (say people go)

by BrokenMachine



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Brotp, Frank needs a hug, Gen, Grieving, Leo Needs a Hug, They all need hugs, because leo is so unhealthy and sad and someone!! needs!! to realise it!!, lost trio friendship, parents piper and jason, poor babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 20:36:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11192922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenMachine/pseuds/BrokenMachine
Summary: “I’m sorry,” he said, voice breaking. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” His body was shaking, tight like a bow string, as he began to sob, loud gasps of air in the silence.(in which leo isn't okay, frank helps more than he realises, and piper and jason just want to look after everyone)





	they say people come (say people go)

When Frank walked into the mess hall, the first thing he saw was Piper sitting on the table.

The next thing he saw was Leo sitting in a chair beside it, his head in his hands, resting on his knees. Frank noticed his fingers were shaking. So, Frank did anything a normal person would do. He turned into a fly.

Piper was rubbing his shoulder gently, arm around his shoulders as if supporting him. “You should be getting more sleep,” she told him gently. “This isn’t good for you.”

Leo sighed, lifting his head, mouth downturned. As Frank flew close to the wall to get a better look, he realised how unnatural it looked. He had never seen the son of Hephaestus look sad, or anything other than happy, really. But here he sat, leaning against Piper looking like he was about to burst into tears.

“I couldn’t get… _her_ … out of my head,” Leo struggled, hands tensing. Piper must have noticed, and she slipped off the table to kneel in front of him. Leo’s eyes blinked open, warm and tired.

“Do you want me to get Jason?” she asked kindly, rubbing her thumb over his cheek. “Or Frank? He lost his mom too, you know.” If Frank hadn’t been a fly, he thought his mouth would have hit the floor. That was what this was about? Leo’s mom? He hadn’t even known she was dead. Suddenly the way Leo acted, standoffish and humorous, seemed to make so much more sense.

Leo shook his head. “No.” His voice was tight and trembling. Frank recognised the sound.

“Leo,” Piper murmured, her own eyes welling with tears. Leo shook his head, eyes shutting. “ _Leo_ ,” she said again, dismayed.

Leo covered his eyes with a hand, the other braced on his knee. There were a few seconds of silence, and then he gasped in air. Frank got such a fright he almost turned back into a human. “I’m sorry,” he said, voice breaking. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” His body was shaking, tight like a bow string, as he began to sob, loud gasps of air in the silence.

Piper threw her arms around his neck, tears slipping down her own cheeks. Leo circled her waist with one arm, the other still over his eyes as he pressed down on her shoulder with his forehead. “I miss her so much,” he was saying, crying. “I miss her _so_ much.”

“I know, Leo, I know,” Piper whispered, kissing the side of his head. Leo shuddered with another sob. “I know.”

Jason entered the room, about to take a bite from an apple, and froze. Frank watched him stand there for a good ten seconds, and then he visibly swallowed. “Oh gods. What-what’s happened?”

Leo looked up, his eyes red and puffy. Jason’s mouth fell open, and he rushed forwards. Piper let go of Leo, taking his hand. Leo wiped his eyes. “Hey,” he muttered, cheeks flushed pink. “Sorry.”

“No, what’s wrong?” Jason placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Is it Festus?”

“No,” Leo rubbed his eyes again.

Jason exchanged a glance with Piper, who nodded grimly. “Your… mom?”

“Yeah,” Leo tried to sound unaffected but his voice wobbled. Jason swore under his breath. “It’s the…” his voice broke. “It’s the day Gaea… the day _I_ killed her.”

“You didn’t kill her,” Jason said immediately, side hugging Leo, who began to cry again. “You _didn’t_.” Piper took Leo’s hands, pressing her mouth to them. Leo shook, face screwed up and heartbroken. Frank knew how he felt. Except he’d never blamed himself for his mother’s death. He couldn’t imagine that.

Leo cried for a few more minutes, and then wiped his face. It wasn’t hard to see him putting up the front as he smiled shakily. “Sorry. Enough moaning from me. I need to go and check—“

“You’re not doing anything except sleeping,” Jason interrupted. “Look at the bags under your eyes. C’mon. We’ll go to my room.”

Leo shut his eyes and Frank did notice the exhaustion deep in his face. “Thank you.”

Jason tugged his arm and Leo stood, Piper following them as they walked out the room. Almost without meaning to, Frank followed them. Vaguely, he realised it wasn’t right, but there was a kind of connection he felt to Leo now that brushed that thought under the carpet. Jason and Piper guided Leo through the halls, skilfully avoiding the others when their voices floated down from certain directions.

Frank buzzed into the room behind them, landing on the wall, and watched Piper pull Leo down on to Jason’s bed. The room smelled nice, and the blanket looked clean and dry. Piper hugged Leo to her, letting his head rest on her shoulder. He was kind of lying on her, but hardly seemed to notice. Jason sat down on the end of his bed, patting Leo’s ankle.

Over his head, Jason and Piper made eye contact and made a series of concerned faces at each other in a kind of language Frank could translate as _ourpoorleohowdowehelphimhowdidwenotseethis_.

“Go to sleep,” Piper mumbled into Leo’s hair, her arms tight around his chest. Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Go to sleep.”

Jason crawled up to sit beside them, on Leo’s other side, and put his arm around Piper’s shoulders, pressing up against Leo’s side. “I’m sorry,” Leo muttered, and they shushed him, looking every part the worried, protective parents the others joked them to be. “Just sleep, Leo.”

Leo smiled, eyes shutting, and for minutes there was only silence until he relaxed, turning limp as sleep visibly took over him. Frank hated how still he looked. Leo was always moving, always tapping, but right then he could have been dead. Jason and Piper made eye contact, and then lowered Leo to the bed, where he curled up.

“When he wakes up it’s gonna be hard,” Jason said and Piper nodded, running a hand across Leo’s hair.

“We’ll be here,” she looked up and something passed between them as they made eye contact. They leaned forward and kissed, and then stood to leave.

Frank followed them out of the door, ready to head back to his room, when Piper shut it behind him and said, “Frank? Don’t use this to dig at him with.”

With more indignation at her statement than surprise of being caught, Frank turned back human. “I would never,” he said earnestly. The heavy weight on his heart hadn’t lifted. “I know what that’s like.”

Jason had frozen. “Wait, were you in there?” His face tightened, anger flaring in his eyes.

“It’s okay, Jason,” Piper placed a hand on his chest and he deflated. Frank let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “It’s okay. At least someone knows now, other than us.”

“Knows what?” Frank asked, and they both turned to him. “That the Leo we know is a mask.”

Frank froze for a second, but as he thought about it, it started to make sense. The rudeness, the humour that was mainly for poking fun at others and driving topics away from himself. In Leo, he saw a bit of himself, and that scared Frank more than he liked to admit.

“I can see that now,” he admitted, and Piper’s shoulders slumped.

“Just…be kind to him today,” she said, and then turned to leave.

"I'm sorry for spying," Frank blurted out, feeling the hot shame more than ever. Piper flashed him a warm smile and he knew he was forgiven. Jason clapped Frank on the shoulder and walked after her, until he was standing alone outside Leo’s door.

Hours later, when Frank had settled the buzzing in his head and Percy had performed a story that had them all rolling with laughter, he was sitting at the side of the ship, back against the wood. He drew his eyes away from the sky when he heard someone sit down next to him. It was Leo.

Frank’s mouth ran dry, but Leo didn’t seem embarrassed, or angry. He figured he didn’t know about the witnessing Frank had done. “Hey, dude,” Leo said, fingers pulling nuts and bolts from his belt. Frank relaxed and mumbled a greeting, but wondered why Leo had sat beside him. It wasn’t like they sought out each other’s attention—far from it.

Minutes had passed in silence, Frank staring at the sky, feeling uncomfortable, and Leo working on his project. When he couldn't stand it anymore, Frank opened his mouth, about to say something— _what are you making? What are you doing? Why are you here?_ —Leo beat him to it.

"Um...so, your mom died, right?"

"Yeah," Frank turned to look at Leo. As always, the dark cloud threatened to wrap around him at the mention of her, but he fought it back. His mom's face haunted the edge of his vision and he shut his eyes.

"Sorry." Leo sounded embarrassed and a little scared. "Shouldn't have said anything—I'll g—"

"Shut  _up_ Valdez," Frank groaned, running a hand down his face. For once in his life, Leo did. "What do you want to say?"

"It's just..." Leo struggled with his words, and then said all at once, "Today's the day I lost mine but like years ago and it's really hard and I know other people here have lost their mom's but I feel like you understand the most because we both lost ours recently and they meant a lot to us."

Frank turned to look at Leo, who was staring straight ahead, bright red. He could still see the dark bags under his eyes and the way his naturally tanned skin was paler than usual, the shaking of his hands visible now he wasn't working. "What was she like?"

"W-who?" Leo calmed, turning to look at Frank. The colour began to die from his cheeks.

"Your mom, duh."

"Oh." Leo's eyes grew hazy, a faint smile on her face. "She was amazing. She was always working, but that never stopped her looking after me. I'd fall asleep at her workshop and wake up being carried home, even though she'd be dead on her feet from tiredness anyway. She was so kind, and always made sure I was okay. _Mi_ _mamá_  never shouted at me, even if I was really pissing her off.She'd speak in Spanish to me until I understood it, just because she wanted me to speak two languages. Everything was perfect. I wish..."

Frank pretended not to see the tears welling in Leo's eyes and turned away to allow him to wipe them discreetly with his shirt sleeve. "She sounds amazing." She really did. 

"She was," Leo croaked finally. "Sorry, man. Thank you."

"Leo, it's fine," Frank finally touched him, on the shoulder. Leo's eyes closed and Frank felt him lean into the touch, like he didn't even mean to. 

"What was yours like?" Leo asked, turning to face him.

Frank cast his mind back to happier times, where his mom would smile at him and hug him and just  _be alive_. It was hard thinking about it, but he said, "She was really protective of me. She knew who I was and didn't want me to be hurt in any way. She'd always try to encourage me to do things, though. I've never met a better person in my life. She was all for doing it for others. She didn't think twice about her own life if it meant saving someone else, but I think that was stupid. She should've..."

Leo's hand tentatively touched his knee and Frank rubbed at the tears that had began to fall down his face. He hated talking about his mom. It made him lose all control of his emotions. "I know," Leo said simply, and Frank relaxed.

He hardly ever did this; sit down with a member of the seven and just  _talk_. Well. Except for Hazel, when she wasn't throwing up for hours on end.

He turned to look at Leo, who was staring straight ahead, and felt a surge of sympathy. He put his hand on Leo's shoulder and squeezed. Leo looked up and made eye contact. 

A smile grew across Leo's face. It was sad, and it wasn't even a full smile, but Frank realised it was the first real one he'd seen. The difference in the real Leo and the Leo he knew was astonishing.

Frank turned back and looked up at the sky, hand falling to his side. He could feel Leo's warmth radiating through the air and closed his eyes, letting his head rest back. Beside him, Leo relaxed, his fingers playing with a loose bolt from the project he had been working on.

It wasn't perfect, not even slightly, but maybe, Frank thought, maybe it could be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> okay i know frank and leo talk about their moms in whatever moment of whatever book but i took artistic liberty to do this so just pretend that scene never happened or something idk. I'm always going to be bitter over that shitty love triangle uncle rick made between hazel frank and leo, cos i would have much rather seen some actual healthy friendships and i feel like we kind of got bowled over on that one.
> 
> imagine this takes place at some point during mark of athena.
> 
> anyway
> 
> leave me a comment to tell me what you thought!! i hope you liked it x


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